![]() In 2000, Earnhardt was unable to put any pressure on points leader Bobby Labonte due to problems with choices on chassis and tyre pressure changes late in races. It’s still going to be racing” Dale Earnhardt Sr But I don’t think it’s going to give anybody an advantage. ![]() “We had a harder tyre at Darlington and I liked it. At the request of NASCAR, compounds will be harder to help reduce corner entrance speeds, a response to three fatal crashes last season in the sanctioning body’s three major touring series. After a chorus of complaints last year, Ohio’s Akron company will run fewer varieties of compounds to throw fewer variables at teams during the 36-race schedule, where qualifying will be limited to one session. “I’m used to running 500-mile Winston Cup races and being in the car a lot longer.”Īfter finishing second in the points last year, the question entering the 2001 NASCAR season for Earnhardt, ironically, concerns Goodyear tyres. “I’m ready to get back in,” he said after his double stint in the wet on Sunday morning. It fell further behind with two rear axle failures and a gearbox change.īut there is little doubt Earnhardt is primed for the opening of the Winston Cup season, physically and mentally. But like his team-mate and lead driver, Andy Pilgrim, Earnhardt could not overcome his Corvette’s relative lack of grip in the rear Goodyear tyres compared to its winning sister entry. Unlike his son, who spun twice on the opening lap of his first stint on the Saturday in slippy track conditions after an afternoon of rain, the veteran Earnhardt handled his chores in the wet with aplomb on the Sunday morning. “When I retire, whenever that may be, I want to be able to look back and say I’ve done this race and know what it’s like to drive in it.” “I’ve always been interested in the Daytona 24 Hours,” he said. The ride in the factory-backed Corvette C5-R, which finished fourth, gave Earnhardt his first opportunity to co-drive with his son Dale Earnhardt Jr, who this year will enter his second season in NASCAR’s premier series.Įven though he is now referred to as ‘Senior’ on occasion and will turn 50 in April, Earnhardt’s lust for accomplishment in racing remains undiminished. Dale Earnhardt started his pursuit of a record eighth Winston Cup by driving in a 24-hour race a fortnight before the blue riband Daytona 500.
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